The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-08-31
1T is A WONDER COUNTRY.
Minister Hanna Tells About the Argentin,
Republic.
New York world.l

the clty, on his way back to his station
after a short vaca alton. A World reporter
asked him to give some information con-
corning his distant station, and he laughed
as he said:
THAT is a very broad suggestion, but I'll
begin by saying that tbs climate could
hardly be surpassed. Fires are but little
used in the winter In Buenos Ayres. The
cold and heat belts are just the reverse OF
ours, as there we look north for heat and
SOP tn for frosts and ice. / repeat that it is
an exceptionally healthy climate, thers
being none more 80, perhaps, on the earth.
We bad cholera there last year. 1t was
imported in filthy emigrant ships from
Italy, but was not nearly so bad as reprs-
sented and was soon stamped out by the
active and wise sanitary measures on the
part of the Argentine Government. This
was only the second visitation of that
dreaded plague ever known IN the country.
1.-THE products OF the country are nearly
altogether pa storal. Cattle aud sheep
farming consti tutes its main industry, aud
that Is carried on on vast scale. Some
time ago on one farm or estancla of three
and half leagues of land or % 400 acres,
owned by Mr.. Samuel B. Hale, Boston
man, saw them shear $4,000 sheep, while
at the same time there were 20, 000 head of
horned cattle and some 800 horses on the
same place. The stock runs out all winter
and is not fed at ali, so you viii see it
must be profitable industry"
Don't they cultivate corn, oats, wheat,
etc. rs We do heref
"Yes, they do, but not much for market.
Both corn and wheat succeed as well and
better than in the Usited States. They
coUl excel Us If they cultivated as We do,
but they do not care much about that.
The wool, hides, talloT and frczsn meats
that they export constitute vast and prof
liable trade. The Argentine Republic is
the largest exporter of all the South Amer
lean countries, and, 1 may add, the larg-
est importer also. All this is increasing
year by year. The country has an enor-
nous producing capacity, which OF course
makes its exchanges matter of vast i'm
portsnce to- Us. Its people would be among
! our very best customers II we would give
them the least chance to exchange
their products with as. They need Jour
agricultural machinery, our mowers
thIeshers, plows, wagons rAkes, shovels,
railroad and tramway equipments, our in
comparable cotton prints aud manufact-
ured wooden fabrics and our coal and lum-
Der. For all this they would gladly give
us their wool, hides and tallow. But they
cannot sell their wool here, and as a result
/ of all this we have neither ships, COM
| meIce nor even an adeq late mail service.
| More than one hundred steamships 90 to
| the River Flate from England, Germany,
/ Italy, France, Belgium. Portugal and. Aus
| tria- Hungary, hut not one steamer carries
the American flag into their ports. Eag.
| land has $3.50 600, 900 invested in their rail-
roads, paying from Il 10 25 per cent. on
every one of them and an increasing valu-
ton on each. But the United States has
not one dollar invested there in such en-
terprises."
why is this sop
! Simply because we have IL mail service
there, end our people know little or moth
Ing about the country. The commerce of
every nation always has and always will
| follow its mail, carried and protected by
| its own flag. The Argentine Republic as an
organized government is yet in It's infancy,
and but little more than twenty five years
old. lis Presidents have but single term
| Of six years, restricted by the Constitution.
| Gen. Metric was the first President Gan.
Sarmisnto, who is well known in the
| United States, the second, Allevanado the
| third, and Gen. Roce the fourth. Toe
! present Incumbent, S1arez. Celman, is Just
about finishing the first year Of his admin
istration. The country has been most
| fortunate in the character and spirit
CT its Presidents. They have all
been men of broad views, aud
have achieved wonders. The present exec
utive will not be behind his predecessors,
and may add that he is a warm adnirer
] of the nited States aud its institutions
You see then what an opportunity thers is
| for our commerce if it will only stretch
out IT'S hands aud inaugurate sensible facjI-
tiles for launching its interests. Thai
country has something mora than 3 .00),-
GOO people and is filling up as no new
country perhaps has ever done before. Its
monthly INN grafton is prodigious chiefly
/ from Italy, Spain, France and England
| Our people there are few because we have
no mail facilities, and conssq 1ently little
| trade. This will not always be Sd, how
ever, as a new era is dtwning, aad sooner
or later we will have ships running there.
! know that President Cleveland is desply
concerned about the matter and will give
it the weight of his executive in
! fluence. Just now new consideration
arises, and one of vast Importance. "a
a few months q raj road from Buenos
! Ayres, on the great Plate river-with its
mouth only eighty miles away and flowing
into the Administering to Valparaiso,
in Chilli. on the Pacific, will be completed.
| Only thirty miles of the construction re-
mains to be finished. That will furnish
highway for all the best South American
| commerce and mail service, including that
of Peru, Bolivia, Chilli, Argentine Repub-
lie, Paraguay and Uruguay, TO the East.
| 1t will also be the main route to Australia.
The distance from New York to Baenos
Ayres direct, on the great circle, is $3.50
BueDos Ayres 10 Valparaiso, $50 miles;
thence to Auckland, New Zealand, $500
miles, and from there to Sidney,
New South Wales, 1,400 miles, making a
total distance of 13, $50 miles. England is
DOW contemplating Just such route to
Australia via Rio, tapping the Trans-At-
lean Railroad across the Southern CONT
pent at or near Mercedes in Argentina.
This route, however, would be ABOUT 15,-
coo miles in length. The road now nearly
completed from Buenos Ayres to Valpa-
raiso will, in my judgment, soon become
one of the greatest high ways in the world.
Now the mails from both the United States
end Europe go mainly by the ships of
the Pacific Steam Navigation Company
an English Incorporation around
through the Straits of Magellan. This new
railroad across the South American Con-
tipent will shorten that service 2 900
miles, less the difference between Buenos
| Ayres and Valparaiso, making a net saving
| of 2, 100 miles over the most tsmpsstuous
and hazardous waters of the world. Thus
it will be seen what great opportunity
our country has to widen its commerce
and find a market for its great surplus pro-
ducts. The business men of New York,
the most powerful commercial agency we
have, should open their eyes to.this matter,
and the sooner it is done the better for the
industrial interests of the United States
/ suggest the first thing to be accomplished